This invention relates to trailer hitches. More particularly, it relates to a method and apparatus which enables one to easily hitch a trailer to a motor vehicle.
The use of recreational vehicles has become very popular in the United States and elsewhere. In particular, travel trailers and pop-up tents on trailers have become popular, primarily because it enables the user to utilize a pre-existing motor vehicle by merely hitching the trailer to the motor vehicle. However, because these trailers are quite often very heavy and cannot be easily moved to the back of one's motor vehicle to be hitched, it has become necessary for the user to move back the motor vehicle to the hitching tongue of the trailer to a very precise position near the ball on the motor vehicle's trailer hitch. This procedure is almost always a two-person job, because if the driver backs too far, he can damage the motor vehicle and/or the trailer. If the driver does not back far enough, he must go back into his vehicle and back up again.
Furthermore, during the actual hitching of the trailer, that is, actually placing the ball receiving cavity of the hitching tongue of the trailer onto the ball of the motor vehicle hitch, the driver must move the motor vehicle at least slightly while the other person manipulates the trailer tongue onto the ball. This procedure has caused many problems. One obvious problem is that an owner of a trailer simply cannot use it by himself unless it is already somewhat permanently hitched to his motor vehicle. There has been great frustration resulting from misjudging when the hitch ball does not align under the trailer tongue. Also, there have been safety problems because quite often the person outside of the motor vehicle stands behind the moving vehicle between the back end of the vehicle and the trailer, resulting in many accidents. Furthermore, there have been many cases of confrontations between family and friends because of the inability to communicate properly with the driver of the motor vehicle, and the person giving directions as to the alignment of the hitching ball and the trailer tongue. Also, trailers and motor vehicles have been damaged in the hitching process.